In an engine compartment of a motor vehicle or its immediate surroundings, the installation of exhaust system components can be made more difficult by the high density of other parts, which limit the available free space for the exhaust ring component at the intended installation location or make the path of the exhaust system component to its intended installation location difficult to pass. Tilting of the exhaust system component in an incompletely fastened state can result in damage of an attachment flange of the exhaust system component or an adjacent component to which the attachment flange is to be fastened.
In an exhaust catalytic converter that is currently installed by the applicant in motor vehicles, an exhaust passage is enclosed by an attachment flange, which has multiple holes parallel to an axis of the flange. These holes are provided to receive bolts protruding from a complementary flange of an adjacent component. When the attachment flange of the exhaust catalytic converter is pushed onto the bolts, its mobility is restricted to a single degree of freedom of translation in the direction of the axis of the attachment flange, even if it is otherwise not yet fastened to the adjacent component. Tilting, which could result in damage to the flange, is prevented and the catalytic converter can be installed comparably and securely, in that nuts are screwed onto the bolts.
To be able to install this typical catalytic converter, there must be sufficient movement freedom in the direction of the mentioned axis to be able to place a catalytic converter on the complementary flange. This movement freedom is not always provided. In an installation situation that does not permit the catalytic converter to be pushed onto bolts installed on the complementary flange, the possibility may exist of first bringing the attachment flange of the catalytic converter into contact with the complementary flange of the adjacent component, and only subsequently guiding the bolts through holes of both flanges. This approach does only need a small amount of movement freedom of the exhaust catalytic converter in the direction of the flange axis, but has the disadvantage that as long as the bolts are not in place, movements of the catalytic converter that could result in damage to the flange remain possible. In addition, it presumes that the rear side of the complementary flange, which faces away from the exhaust system component to be installed, is accessible in order to be able to insert the bolts into the holes therefrom or fasten nuts thereon. This accessibility is not always provided.
At least one object is therefore to provide an exhaust system component for a motor vehicle, which allows installation of the exhaust system component on preinstalled fastening bolts of an adjacent component even if the movement freedom of the exhaust system component is strongly restricted in the longitudinal direction of the fastening bolts during the installation. In addition, other objects, desirable features, and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent summary and detailed description, and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background.